Novel method for improving fatigue behavior of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite

The fatigue prone structures made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites (CFRPCs) are frequently used in aerospace, defense, structural, and automotive applications. In this work, a novel method was reported that increases the fatigue life of CFRPC (96.56% at an average) by interface strengthening. The fatigue life of CFRPC composite was evaluated using the standard bending cyclic fatigue test. The CFRPCs were prepared by the hand layup method using a specially designed compression molding setup. The waste glass powder and PVA adhesive were used for treating the carbon fibers (CFs). The statistical analysis was used to interpret the effect of the volume fraction variation of the treated/untreated CFs on the cyclic fatigue strength (CFS) of the CFRPC. The effect of treatment and the load ration (R) on CFS of CFRPC were reported. The finite element (FE) model was developed using the transient analysis in COMSOL multi-physics (Explicit Dynamics Module) to obtain the deformation and stresses for treated/untreated CFRPC made using single tow of the carbon fiber. The experimentation on treated and untreated single tow CFRPC was performed to validate and complement the FE model. The stress-deformation-life relations for CFRPC were established. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were used to establish the structure-property relationship and explain the basis for increment in CFS of CFRPC. Analysis of variance was conducted to ensure the validity of the experimental results.